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A ted talk about home and background culture and how they deal with it
https://www.ted.com/talks/pico_iyer_where_is_home?language=en
published 2013

A song about not going home by Bon Jovi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cQ7aGAOg6o

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A description of the house on Mango Street

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Before I moved here to Toledo, I lived in a town where no place was safe for 7 years, especially the schooling system since the smell was just drugs right when you walked in since older kids and some teachers used them while the school day was going on. The town was pretty much destroying itself since there were dealers on every corner imaginable. The crime rate was increasing where shootouts took place at the local grocery store every week. I was not happy about moving to Toledo away from my friends since I had found out the major reason why both of my parents were working in the area. My family pretty much settled in Toledo within a couple of weeks. The adjustment was a huge struggle for me since I wanted nothing to do with Toledo in the first place. I feel like I agree with Esperanza in the way about accepting the home to begin with since it is just like hitting the reset button in the key part of life.  I was forced to straight up abandon a place I thought was safe for my family. For a while, a stab in the back feeling just depressed me for a couple of years. Home is some place where you think it will be safe for everybody and it takes a while to establish that feeling where you truly belong.

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“We didn’t always live on Mango Street. Before that we lived on Loomis on the third floor, and before that we lived on Keeler. Before Keeler it was Paulina, but what I remember most is Mango Street, sad red house, the house I belong but do not belong to” (110)

Developing the theme of home and how later in the novel Esperanza realized that her real home is the one on Mango Street and she understands now that a home doesn't have to be the best looking house in the world

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“But today she is listening to my sadness because I don’t have a house. You live right here, 4006 Mango, Alicia says and points to the house I am ashamed of” (106)

Esperanza expresses her sadness over not having a home of which she's proud of and Allicia tells her that like it or not, the house on Mango Street is her true home. At this point in the novel, Esperanza still believes that a home is a physical place instead of a feeling

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“I knew then I had to have a house. A real house. One I could point to. But this isn’t it. The house on Mango Street isn’t it. For the time being, Mama says. Temporary says Papa. But I know how those things go” (5)

When moving into the house on Mango Street, Esperanza was expecting her dream house. A house with real stairs, a basement, three bathrooms, white exterior, and with a big front yard. But the house on Mango Street was nothing like that. In the beginning of the novel Esperanza believes that having a real house means having a nice look to the house with a little bit of luxury and comfort.

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In what ways does Esperanza see writing as “home”?

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What are the logistics of Esperanza fulfilling her promise of returning to Mango Street?

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During my childhood me and my family were always on the move, moving house to house. The first house I lived in was for under a year, we moved before my first birthday. From that house we moved into a smaller house in Toledo and from that house we moved into an apartment and this is where I can remember small details about it. From kindergarten to 2nd grade we lived in the apartments and me and my brothers went to Bennett Venture Academy, from the name of it you would think it’s a good school but it was the complete opposite. My mom realized that and we moved right next to my grandparents on the complete opposite side of town and from 2nd grade to 8th grade I lived there.The house next to my grandparents was a average size house but that’s not what I remember, I remember all the moments of going to my grandparents house late at night because I bored and wanted to watch a movie, or swimming in the pool we had, jumping on the trampoline, riding dirt bikes and golf carts around the yard, and all the friends we had in the neighborhood. After 8th grade school year ended we decided to move again, this time we were finally going to settle in and get the house we always wanted. 5 bedroom house, 3 bathrooms, big front and back yard, basement for me and my brothers to have fun in, and 2 family/living rooms. Me and my brothers always thought that having a better house and in a better neighborhood would mean better life but that wasn’t the case, I realized that ‘home’ isn't how the house looks like but it’s the feeling it gives you. Once in a while I’ll still drive past my old house because I know that was my true home.

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What was the turning point for Esperanza in “appreciating” Mango Street?

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When I was around 3 years old, my family moved from Cincinnati up to where I currently live in Toledo. The next following years, I encountered a phase of “Cinci Supremacy''. From age 4-6, I was increasingly desperate to move back south because, from what little I remembered, it was far more interesting than Toledo. I remember using my new found writing and reading skills to attempt to create a “For Sale” sign I would throw onto my front yard, made from printer paper and Crayola marker ink. As I got older, the little memories I had of my perfect beginning started to piece together with the stories my parents told and the pictures taken. While I remembered the beautiful park my old backyard led down to, my parents informed me on the issues with our house. It was a converted tenement house built in the late 1800s, which was not too kind with aging. I remembered the friendly neighbors while my parents remembered the rising crime rates in the neighborhood. I remembered the blinding glare from the city’s tallest buildings, while my parents remembered the stress of applying me to a prestigious pre-school to get me out of the low funded public schools. Overall, I began to understand that the naiveness of my age acted as rose colored glasses to the situation surrounding me. While I still very much love Cincinnati, I am now extremely grateful for the choice my parents made to move.

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Theme Developing Vignettes: Mango Says Goodbye

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Theme Developing Vignettes: Mango Says Goodbye

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In this vignette, Esperanza explains how writing stories allowed her to release the pain she felt in living on Mango Street. She goes on to detail how she, when older, will pack up all of the books she’s written and go away to make a living for herself, yet return to help her neighbors who were not fortunate enough to move away from Mango Street. This vignette shows how Alicia’s conversation invoked inspiration within Esperanza to succeed so she could make improvements for her neighbors. She understands that her experiences living there have made her a stronger person and fire her to leave and thrive elsewhere. “One day I will say goodbye to Mango. I am too strong for her to keep me forever. One day I will go away.”

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Theme Developing Vignettes: House of My Own

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Theme Developing Vignettes: House of My Own

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In this vignette, Esperanza expresses her desire to own a home of her own. “Not a flat. Not an apartment in the back. Not a daddy’s. A house all to my own.” She then continues to describe how it would house things she's contributed to, like her poetry books, petunias she has planted, slippers she bought. Lastly, she visions how clean her life will be without anyone to scold her or liter on her lawn. Overall, this vignette develops Esperanza’s eagerness to succeed in order to provide for herself.

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Theme Developing Vignettes: Alicia and I Talking on Edna's Steps

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Theme Developing Vignettes: Alicia and I Talking on Edna's Steps

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In this vignette, Esperanza expresses her shame for living in her house on Mango Street to Alicia, noting that Mango Street has never been a home to her like Alicia considers Guadalajara. Alicia contradicts, telling Esperanza, “...like it or not, you are Mango Street, and one day you’ll come back too.” Esperanza refuses to return until someone improves the quality of life, to which Alicia alludes that only Esperanza could do such a thing. Overall, this vignette introduces a possible mindset change for Esperanza and what she is capable of doing with her future.

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Theme Developing Vignettes: House on Mango Street

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Theme Developing Vignettes: House on Mango Street

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This vignette establishes the theme, as well as the exposition for the novel. Esperanza is introduced along with a brief listing of the various other streets her family has lived on thus far into her life. In this vignette, the reader learns Esperanza is disappointed by the house on Mango Street as compared to what her parents described their “new” home as being (...the house on Mango Street is not the way they told at all.”) Overall, this vignette is the most important because it sets up the story for character development to take place.

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Hyperbole: “Why did she march so far away?”(Pg 110) Explanation: She is marching away is a hyperbole since she is leaving it for good like a salute to an injured friend that won’t recover.

Symbolism:”I am too strong for her to keep me here forever.”(pg. 110) Explanation: The house symbolizes to Esperanza as an anchor holding her down because since she moved to the house, she feels that the house will never be her true home causing a bad feeling to Esperanza whenever she mentions it.

Sensory details: “It is small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small”(pg 4) Explanation: The sensory details used here makes the house feel claustrophobic without Esperanza’s family moving in yet by saying it is small.

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Irony(Situational): “They will not know I have gone away to come back.”(pg 110) Explanation: The irony is throughout the novel she says she will never go back to the house after she leaves. By her saying this she has decided that she will come back after she grows up.

Anaphora: “One day” (Pg. 110) Explanation: The author uses one day throughout the last vignette to show her confidence in the ability to leave mango street forever.

Simile: ”Only a house as quiet as snow” (pg. 108) Explanation: Esperanza compares a house loud and noisy to snow which is quiet while it falls.

Tone: “Temporary says Papa, but I know how those things go.”(Pg 5) Explanation: The author uses a depressed tone by saying that they know how these things go by starting to give up hope about the dream house.

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- In the beginning of the novel Esperanza believes home is just a physical location and she believes it has to have a certain feeling, comfort, and a little luxury
- As the novel unfolds Esperanza begins to realize home isn't just a place, home is the feeling it gives you

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Imagery: “ Our house will be white with trees around it, and a big yard filled with grass growing without a fence.”(House on Mango Street Page 4) Explanation: The house they always dreamed of while being able to enjoy as a kid in the Esperanza’s eyes.

Mood:” The way she said it made me feel like nothing.” (pg 5) Explanation: The mood of the reader in the quote is shocked and sad for Esperanza since she was in disbelief the nun had acted that way.

Personification :”I put it down on paper and then the ghost does not ache as much.”(pg 110) Explanation: She is giving her memories of human-like qualities to feel pain for trying not to remember the house on mango street.

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- The theme of “home” begins and ends the novel with Esperanza’s opinions revolving around her opinions of her house on Mango Street.
- This fixation on her house as time passes allows for the reader to evaluate Esperanza’s character development throughout her growing up.